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CA Primary Leftist Voter Guides (June 7, 2022)

A compilation of Progressive or Leftist Voter Guide endorsements for the June 7, 2022 CA primary.

I didn't have time to write a thorough voter guide before the June 7 primary this year, so here's a super abridged one for those voting on June 7!

Voter Guides

Here are the voter guides that I am drawing from:

The most detailed guide with endorsements is the LA Area Progressive Voter Guide written by Kris Rehl, while the CalMatters Voters Guide gives no endorsements and can be used as an effective way to understand what each office does, see who's running, and compare all of their platforms easily. It doesn't go into local elections, so that's where Ballotpedia comes in handy (though it requires a ton more clicks to get through everything). You can also use their Sample Ballot Lookup to get a comprehensive list of all the elections that you are voting on.

Day-Of Voting and Registration (Click to Expand)

In California, you are able to vote until 8pm on June 7. You can vote in-person by going to any of the polling sites in your county.

You can find your nearest polling site using this official CA website.

If you are not yet registered to vote and are eligible to vote, you are allowed to do Same Day Voter Registration by registering at the polling site you go to.

My Selection Approach (Click to Expand)

What I typically do is read information about each candidate from the official CA or county voter information guide, then check their website (if they have one), and cross-reference all of that against local news coverage (especially useful if your local newspaper does a summary of the candidates running). Finally, I look at the various voter guides with endorsements to see if my selected candidates align with who groups I typically agree with (such as the DSA and Working Families Party) endorse.

To select candidates, I actually go through a process of elimination rather than nomination. I first list out every candidate that's running and cross their name out if I particularly disagree with their stances or don't believe that they would be qualified for that office. Finally, I compare the remaining candidates by doing a deeper dive on their platforms, endorsements, and any news I can find on them. This sometimes results in my decision to not vote in a specific race, which did happen in this election.

My Politics (Click to Expand)

Before you read who I'm voting for (and endorse), I think it's helpful to know what some of my political beliefs are, to see if it's compatible with what you believe (and therefore, if it's worth your time to read my recommendations). It's completely fine if you don't agree with my selections.

An important note: I don't work for nor am I affiliated with any political party or group. Nor am I an expert in politics in any way. I am currently registered as a Democrat in the state of California, though I would not describe myself as such and would definitely say that I am a lot more left-leaning than most Democrats. Perhaps surprising to those who know me is that I don't consider myself a Socialist, though the positions I hold are often regarded as socialistic. Roughly, I believe in:

  • Healthcare for All – health care should be a right, and I look for candidates who support a single-payer system.
  • Housing for All – housing should be a right, and I look for candidates who believe that everyone should be housed. A lot of candidates support affordable housing, which is a step in the right direction, but very often it's not even actually affordable. A lot of candidates talk about homelessness, with solutions that either criminalize the unhoused or keep them on the streets; my personal belief is that everyone should be able to have access to free housing.
  • Police and Prison Abolition – I don't think police reform is enough, and while we don't really have any candidates advancing abolition outright, I'm a supporter of candidates who want to tackle the prison-industrial complex by defunding police and prisons.
  • Pro-Choice – I support abortion in all cases and funding reproductive health services.
  • Full Disarmament – a surprising position, but not only do I believe in gun control, I believe we shouldn't allow for gun ownership at all. This especially goes for cops.
  • Expand Free Public Transit – I'm huge on having more accessible public transit, more funding for public transit, and making it free.
  • Fund Public Schools, not Charter Schools – I'm an advocate of funding public education, especially with giving teachers higher wages, and education is one of the most important things to me in terms of what we should fund. While many charter schools are good, I see them as a way to keep privileged students out of the public school system while avoiding to address public school funding, which creates deeper educational disparities.
  • Green New Deal – while there may be issues with the Green New Deal, I still see it as a step in the right direction to combat climate change. I think we need much stronger regulations on carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, and I'm in favor of things such as public ownership of the energy grid (good-bye PG&E).
  • Municipal Broadband – I believe in Internet access owned by the public, as opposed to monopolies like Comcast. We know this can lead to faster, cheaper, and more equitable Internet access for everyone, as opposed to the slow, expensive Internet we have now.

I could keep going, but these are some of the highlights. A lot of these stances are pie in the sky and probably won't happen in the United States any time soon, but these are what I believe in, and I vote for candidates who advocate for policies in this direction. I don't just live in a fantasy world where I refuse to vote for anyone at all – much of the time, I do compromise on these issues with my candidate selection. I do believe that voting locally can make a tremendous impact in a lot of dimensions, though I also believe that voting isn't enough, and that direct action is necessary in many cases.

Local Elections

These aren't all local offices, but these are offices unique to where I/you live that wouldn't be relevant for someone living in a different district, county, or city in California.

CA State Assembly District 20

CA State Assembly District 21

  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: James Coleman
  • Working Families Party Recommends: James Coleman
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: James Coleman

CA State Assembly District 24

  • My Vote (and Strong Endorsement): Alex Lee
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Alex Lee
  • Working Families Party Recommends: Alex Lee
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Alex Lee

CA State Senator District 10

  • My Vote (and Strong Endorsement): Aisha Wahab
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Aisha Wahab
  • Working Families Party Recommends: Aisha Wahab
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Aisha Wahab

CA State Board of Equalization District 2

CA House of Representatives District 13

CA House of Representatives District 17

  • My Vote: Ro Khanna
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Ro Khanna

Santa Clara County Assessor

Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 3

Alameda County District Attorney

  • Working Families Party Recommends: Pamela Price
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Pamela Price

Santa Clara County District Attorney

  • My Vote (and Strong Endorsement): Sajid Khan
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Sajid Khan
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Sajid Khan

Alameda County Sheriff

  • My Recommendation: No Sheriff
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: No Vote

Santa Clara County Sheriff

  • My Vote: No Sheriff
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: No Vote

Alameda County Superintendent of Education

San Jose City Council District 3

San Jose Mayor

  • My Vote: N/A – none of the candidates particularly stood out to me, though it's quite clear that Cindy Chavez and Matt Mahan are in the lead for this race. With neither really having a platform that I believe in, backing from large corporations, terrible housing policies, and pro-cop platforms, I decided not to vote in this race. It's likely that one of the two will be mayor, so there's close to no chance the office will go to a candidate that is far worse.
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Cindy Chavez

Los Angeles Mayor

  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Gina Viola
  • LA Voter Guide Recommends: Gina Viola
  • Working Families Party Recommends: Karen Bass
  • My Recommendation: Gina Viola – mainly for the reason that Viola and Bass differ greatly on the question of LAPD, with Viola aiming to defund the LAPD and Bass aiming to give additional funding and staffing to the LAPD.

Santa Clara Valley Water District Measure A

  • My Vote: No
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: No

Alameda Unified School District Measure B

  • My (Strong) Recommendation: Yes

San Jose Measure B

  • My Vote (and Strong Recommendation): Yes
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Yes
  • Bay Rising Action Recommends: Yes

Oakland Measure C

  • My (Strong) Recommendation: Yes

San Francisco Measure H

  • Working Families Party Recommends: No
  • Bay Rising Action Recomends: No

Statewide Elections

These are the elections that I believe everyone in CA will be voting on.

Governor

Lieutenant Governor

  • My (Weak) Vote: Mohammad Arif
  • DSA Voter Guide Recommends: Mohammad Arif
  • LA Voter Guide Recommends: Mohammad Arif

US Senate (Full-Term)

US Senate (Partial Term)

  • My Vote: Alex Padilla
  • LA Voter Guide Recommends: Alex Padilla

Secretary of State

Controller

Treasurer

Attorney General

Insurance Commissioner

  • My Vote: N/A – Nathalie Hrizi and Veronika Fimbres are both candidates who believe in single-payer healthcare, with Nathalie being part of the Left Unity Slate. However, neither really have the experience in my opinion to hold the office of insurance commissioner. It's likely that the very well-funded candidates Marc Levine or Ricardo Lara (the incumbent) will win this race. There's no candidate I felt like I could truly endorse in this race, so I decided not to vote, especially since the leading candidates are Dems without dramatically different priorities.
  • LA Voter Guide Recommends: Marc Levine

Superintendent of Public Instruction

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Jamie Larson
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